Latex seals breaking down

[NJScubaSteve]

I saw this happen to a friend who had a Pinnacle dry suit. A few of us had the same suit purchased at about the same time, but only this one had the problem. He is an instructor and spends a lot of time at Dutch Springs. The only thing he did different was laying the dry suit on the ground under a tree to dry out. We thought he might be getting some tree sap on the seals. Had the seals replaced and stopped laying the suit on the ground and the problem never came back.

 

[NC Wreck Diver]

My buddy has seen and fixed seals with the goo issue. But he does not have a definative answer as to why it happens. From this thread, it sounds like it happens often, with a couple of manufacturer's suits. All I know is that I have never seen goo on my seals. At this point, I'm just guessing about reasons, and really stumped why it's happening. Strange......

 

[JanK]

Perhaps skin chemistry? In completely different context: I know that there's a marked difference in how long guitar strings last under different fingers. Mine corrode and go dead very quickly, no matter which brand I use (even the specially coated ones). Washing hands before playing just delays the inevitable. My friend's seem to last forever.

The seal, after all, is constantly in contact with the same patch of skin for an hour or more. And if there's something coming off the skin, it could potentially harm latex. For instance, there are minute quantities of ammonia emanating from the skin and ammonia is used as solvent for liquid latex. An oily skin could be another reason.

Mind you, I am not a chemist and this is all just speculation...

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

This "problem" just happens. It sometimes seems that it is a persons natural skin oils that cause it. Somehow, they just break down the latex. It is very odd, but it happens. If it keeps happening to you, read below to save some money on the wrist seal replacement. I hope this doesn't sound like a sales pitch as it isn't. Your local shop should also be able to do these repairs.....although the wrists are NOT easy when dealing with contact cement.

One thing some of you may look into doing is adding the permanent wrist system. We have been adding 2-3 of these a week to suits coming through the door. We or you, glue the wrist ring system onto your suit. This then gives you a system that you can replace the seals yourself. So, if seals break down in a couple years, sooner or later, you can replace them yourself.

You can then also install the silicon wrist seals. You must have a system like this in place though due to the fact that the silicon can not be glued onto anything.

This also gives you a built in dryglove system as you can take rubber pullover gloves and stretch them over the rings. Quick and easy drygloves.

 

[TSandM]

It's not body chemistry, because I've had four different kinds of seals, and only one has done this, and I'm the same me with all of them (Just for completeness, they were Mobby's, DUI, Diving Concepts, and Whites seals.)

John, that's very interesting information about the gasoline. I DO have terrible problems with needing very frequent replacement of neck seals, and it has been suggested that one of the sites in which I dive may be responsible for it, as it experiences a lot of shipping traffic, and is also downstream from a major Superfund site (we don't eat the crabs there ). I've never bothered to do the experiment, because not diving there really isn't an option. But those neck seals don't get gooey, they just get flabby and tear, as my other wrist seals have done, as well. And I should mention that the wrist seals that went gooey on me had almost never seen any sort of water, as I dive dry gloves everywhere I dive, except in the caves in Mexico.

 

[Akimbo]

It's not body chemistry, because I've had four different kinds of seals, and only one has done this, and I'm the same me with all of them (Just for completeness, they were Mobby's, DUI, Diving Concepts, and Whites seals.)
...

I don’t want to sound sexist but there may be another variable here. Many more females use lotions for moisture and UV protection than males. Is it possible that some of these chemicals are reacting with the latex?

I have not carefully read every thread, sorry if it has already been suggested.

 

[Crush]

It's not body chemistry, because I've had four different kinds of seals, and only one has done this, and I'm the same me with all of them (Just for completeness, they were Mobby's, DUI, Diving Concepts, and Whites seals.)

+1

John - I assume that the goo is non-biological in origin. Based upon your experiments, we would have to rule out several of the usual suspects. It occurs to me that one potential source of contamination that divers could run into, but infrequently, would be silicon oil for o-rings (I do my servicing between dives, so the odds of me transferring it to the suit are small). Do you have enough latex left to spot on some silicon grease?

 

[peterbj7]

Switch to neoprene seals - everlasting and never leak.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Although seals are on different suits, there are only a couple people making latex seals. Specialized Latex is usually the one that almost ALL manufacturers use. Look on the inside and see what it says That would tell you if the seals were in fact from different manufacturers. Just a different suit maker does not mean different seals.

 

[boulderjohn]

Perhaps skin chemistry?... An oily skin could be another reason.

Mine happened on the outside of the seal and then worked its way through.

+1
It occurs to me that one potential source of contamination that divers could run into, but infrequently, would be silicon oil for o-rings

I don't use it a lot either, but I do use it at times. I just put some on a square of latex--we'll see.